Lely High School graduate Lauren Embree of the University of Florida lost to Georgia’s Chelsey Gullickson, 6-2, 7-5, in the singles championship of the USTA/ITA Southeast Regional in Gainesville on Monday.
Embree still earned an at-large bid into the USTA/ITA National Indoor Championship by advancing to the quarterfinals.
“Lauren has worked really hard. She has worked, probably, the hardest she has in the two and a half years she’s been here, and you don’t always immediately get the payoff from all your work,” Florida coach Roland Thornqvist said. “Coming into this week, Lauren hadn’t played enough matches. I don’t think she was confident like she had been in the past. She played a lot of matches this weekend and that really will help her.”
Gullickson jumped out to a 5-0 lead and went on to take the first set. Embree answered by winning the first three games of the second set, but Gullickson won four of the next five games. Embree was down 0-40 in the next game, but battled back to win to tie the set at 5-5. Gullickson took the next two games to win the match.
“Gullickson played superb tennis,” Thornqvist said. “She was the better player today and there’s not much you can say besides congratulate her and she played at a really high level.”
Embree and Joanna Mather also will play in the doubles in the national indoor championships, which are Nov. 3-6 in Flushing, N.Y.
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